As Raj Likes It
by Goodbye GoatHill
Summary: What happens when a woman literally falls in Raj's lap. Totally sappy, non-slash. I thought I was finished, but I've developed a few more chapters in response to friendly reviewers' requests and also gone back to do a little tidying in previous chapters, which has resulted in some weird chapter problems - sorry. Reviews make me super happy!
1. Chapter 1

The woman who interrupted their usual lunchtime argument was probably not a scientist. Her dark hair was pulled into a neat bun. She wore slacks and a fashionably green twinset; her colorful scarf was just right. "Sorry to interrupt your lunch. I'm Rosalind Wald, from the English department, and some undergrads pointed me in your direction. I'm looking for Dr. Hofstadter and Dr. Cooper; I'm told you can answer some questions about comic books." Leonard and Sheldon raised their hands; she put hers out to shake. Sheldon shook his head, so she nodded at him, unfazed; Leonard stood a little to reach over the table to her, and introduced his Howard and Raj. She shook hands with them, too, repeating names as she was introduced.

"So, you're from the Humanities…" Sheldon began, but she interrupted him. "I know, I know, scientists think the Humanities a complete waste of time. But can't we all agree that the folks in the Linde center can't put together a readable sentence and move on?" Her swipe at the business faculty amused everyone and averted an argument, much to the relief of everyone besides Sheldon. A pretty woman was talking to them, and they intended to make it last as long as they could. "So, what did you want to know about comic books?" Leonard prompted her.

She crouched down at the edge of the table and pulled a bit of paper and a pencil out of her bag. Making a note on the top of the paper, she began her inquiry: "Well, I've been doing some work on dystopias and utopias and gender, and I've realized that I have a huge gap in my repertoire as far as comics, or graphic novels, or manga, or whatever – words and pictures – go. So I'd love some reading suggestions. I'm looking for dystopias or utopias, especially ones where gender is an issue – Atwood's _The Handmaid's Tale_ is a touchstone for me – but I'll take any suggestions you have. Someone's pointed me to _Y the Last Man_, and, while more apocalyptic than outright dystopian, that's been a pretty useful series."

The men all stared at the center of the table, momentarily stumped. She looked from face to face, a mild smile on hers, patiently waiting. Suddenly, Raj had an idea, and leaned over to whisper to Howard, who agreed, "Oh, yeah, definitely. Raj says_ The_ _Watchmen_." Everyone nodded, agreeing, yet Rosalind didn't write it down. Instead, she was looking quizzically at Raj, who was on her right. From her position at the edge of the table, she had to look up into his face. Before she could ask, Howard jumped in, "Raj doesn't speak to women, unless he's drunk. Social anxiety."

"Well, that's unfortunate," she said, and laid her hand on his arm. "Thank you for the suggestion, Raj." She bent down to write, glancing sideways towards him all the while. "Anyone else have any ideas for me?" But before anyone could answer, a cafeteria tray carelessly handled knocked her in the head, and Rosalind lost her balance and fell in Raj's direction. Raj, eyes wide, caught her before she hit the ground, and helped her to her feet, straightening her scarf for her while she rubbed her head. "Ow. That smarts. I – Ow. Thank you for – thank you," and she gripped his upper arm before moving her hand, again, gently to his forearm. Meanwhile, the other men were looking for the perpetrator, shouting, "Kripke!"

She was clearly a bit shaken, but trying to maintain her composure. She remained standing, and patted her bag and hair absently. "Well, I suppose I should go before anything else untoward happens. Thanks for your help," She turned to Raj with the last comment, but he leaned over to Howard and whispered to him. Everyone paused for the whispered conference, waiting for Howard to speak: "Raj thinks that we should get together later. Maybe if we had a little time to think, we could come up with more than one title between us."

Leonard nodded, catching on. "That's right. Why don't you come over to our apartment. We'll have dinner, and we can sort through some comic books together." Sheldon started to protest, but Raj caught his eye, and he chose, instead, to sigh dramatically.

"Well, that would be great. I wouldn't want to impose…" everyone but Sheldon shook his head vigorously. "Well, then, would Wednesday be all right? That's my night off." Everyone switched to nodding affirmatively, except Sheldon, who sighed again.

"Am I imposing on your schedule?" She asked him.

"Well, as a matter of fact, you are, but I guess I will allow it just this one time," was Sheldon's relatively gracious reply.

"Ok, well then, thank you for the invitation – oh, I've got to get to class – here, can you just text me your address for Wednesday?" she said, checking her watch and writing a phone number on a slip of paper, which she left on the table when she left, still rubbing her left temple. Sheldon returned to his lunch; Leonard and Howard stared at the phone number; Raj watched her as far as the door before turning to the others.

"Did you see that?" he said, smiling broadly.


	2. Chapter 3

Rosalind showed up at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment with several dozen chocolate chip cookies: "I didn't know what to bring."

Leonard smiled, welcoming. "This is terrific. Look, even Sheldon is interested." He was, too; interested enough to get up from his desk and take one. "Sheldon, these are for later." Leonard slapped his hand away, but Sheldon got a cookie anyway.

Leonard realized that the burden of polite conversation was going fall on him. Howard was in a bad mood, and his conversation with women was scarcely more polite than Sheldon's, and Raj was excepted, even though this whole evening had been his idea. "So, you're in the English department…" he started.

She played the game of polite conversation well. "Yes, although my Ph.D. is in Comparative Literature. I was lucky to get this position; the previous professor disappeared a week before classes started, and I was already an adjunct, so I just stepped right in."

Sheldon scoffed: "Comparative Literature? What do you compare it to?"

She sighed, and addressed him directly. "My dissertation compares early modernist literature in the US, Brazil, and Mexico. If you would like a detailed lecture on why Machado de Assis is better than Henry James, I can give it to you, but I doubt you'd want to hear it."

The room was quiet – even Sheldon was nonplussed by her direct approach - but Raj whispered to Howard, who spoke, "Raj wants to."

She smiled, less defensive. "Short answer? Machado is funny," she replied to Raj. "So, who's the funniest physicist?"

The men argued amongst themselves while she sat back and watched them. Sheldon insisted that physics isn't funny, while Howard and Leonard each had his own candidate. Raj just smiled at Rosalind, impressed by the way that she deflected Sheldon's criticism.

Dinner continued; everyone took turns serving themselves from the takeout boxes. Once the food was put away, Leonard and Sheldon each pulled out a few comic books to show Rosalind. She handled them carefully, taking notes with her pencil, occasionally losing herself in a few pages of story. The men made conversation among themselves; eventually, Raj whispered to Howard again, and he addressed Rosalind, who was quietly studious at Leonard's desk. "So what did you mean by Wednesday being your day off?"

Rosalind turned around. "I came back home from Penn almost two years ago because my mother was ill. She's gotten progressively worse. We knew she would, of course. We have hospice nurses in the day, but I spend most evenings with her. That's why I came home, after all. But we have the nurses in on Wednesday nights, too, so I can get out a little."

Leonard asked, "What about the rest of your family? What about your dad?"

"Well, he died several years ago, and my sister couldn't possibly get away from Boston. She has a law firm and a family. I was ABD, so I finished my dissertation here instead of in Philadelphia, picked up a little adjuncting, and then lucked into the full-time gig. I don't know what will happen when they complete the replacement search, of course; I've been short-listed as a courtesy, but that's no guarantee. Nor should it be. That's OK. I always have a backup plan."

She folded her notes and stood up from the desk. "Well, thanks for the help. And the dinner, and the hospitality."

Leonard replied, "Hey, it's still early. Stay a while. Do you like _Firefly_?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, yes. Back in PA, we used to celebrate the end of grading with a _Firefly_ marathon every semester." She checked her watch. "I can stay. That would be lovely."

She moved the desk chair around behind the couch, resting her elbow on the couch and her chin on her hand. Within moments, Raj and Howard began to argue back in forth, whispering. Rosalind noticed that no one else seemed to notice, so she asked Leonard and Sheldon: "Do they do this a lot, bickering like an old married couple?"

Sheldon glared at her – she was interrupting the television - but Leonard answered. "Yes, only they do it out loud when there are no women present."

"So, is it cute or annoying?" She asked.

Sheldon cleared his throat, but Leonard replied, "A little of both, actually."

Rosalind leaned over behind Sheldon. "I'm sorry to disturb you. I always forget how much difficulty the male brain has with multitasking."

Before he could reply, she was patting Howard on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

"What?" Howard hadn't been paying any attention what was going on around him.

"He wants you to move so I can sit on the couch beside him, right?"

Howard nodded.

"And you're saying that if he thinks I should sit on the couch, he should move."

Howard nodded again.

"Both of you, stay put." She leaned over and pulled the throw pillow from Howard's lap, then walked around the couch to sit on the floor, leaning against Raj's knees.

"Everybody happy now?" Rosalind asked.

Leonard was chuckling to himself. "I like you, Rosalind. You can stay."


	3. Chapter 4

They'd all agreed to meet at the comic book store the following Wednesday; Rosalind's research was turning into a bit of a group project. Rosalind arrived at the comic book store first; in her blazer and neat bun, she stood out. Stuart approached her right away.

"Can I help you find something, Ma'am?"

"Actually, I'm supposed to meet some people here, and I'm a bit early. I have the impression that they're regulars…" She began to describe her four new friends, and he nodded and cut her off before she got through two sentences.

"Oh, yeah, Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard. But what do you want with those guys?"

"Well, as I said, I'm supposed to meet them here. But I'm wondering if I could enlist your help in some mild deception. Oh, I'm Rosalind, by the way."

He shook her proffered hand, introducing himself, "Stuart. What kind of deception, exactly?"

"Well, something a bit Moliere-ish. I was hoping that you could engage Raj in a bit of conversation in such a way that I might overhear it without his knowing."

"Oh, because of the not talking to women thing. Yeah. Don't they do something like this in _Hamlet_?"

"Yes, but that ends with Polonius run through by a sword. I'm hoping for something a bit more benign."

He nodded as Rosalind explained what she was hoping for. "So, you like this guy, huh?"

"Well, I'm curious about him. He seems kind and intelligent, but without any words to go by, I can only guess from non-verbal cues, and I've been wrong about those before. At any rate, will you help me?"

"Well, I will do my best, but I'm not promising anything."

"Of course. If it fails, it will be on my head. Thank you for your help."

The doorbell rang and Raj and Howard entered the store. Rosalind moved quickly, letting her hair down and crouching low to look at some books on a bottom shelf; Stuart moved a display slightly to block her from view, and approached the newcomers. "What are you guys doing here? This isn't your usual night."

Raj said, "We're meeting someone. Is she here yet?"

Stuart gestured to the area of the shop where Rosalind wasn't. "Mostly your usual folks. What does she look like?"

Raj was eager to talk about Rosalind to someone who might not roll his eyes at him. "She's lovely. She has beautiful, warm eyes, and a sweet, warm smile, and she's so kind and…"

Howard stopped him. "Really. Are her eyes warm, or is it her smile? Your vocabulary is failing you, man."

"Everything about her is warm and wonderful, Howard. She's even nice to you. And she can stop Sheldon from arguing. Everything is nicer when she's around."

Stuart smiled. "I can see that you're quite taken with her."

Raj was frustrated. "But what can I do? I can't tell her how I feel."

"Well, why don't you try what you usually do?" Stuart suggested.

"Get drunk so I can talk to her?"

Stuart nodded.

"No way, man." Raj had already thought of this and rejected it. "I'm such a jerk when I'm drunk. Besides, I don't want to just chat her up, I want to really talk to her. She's not just some chick in a bar."

Howard tagged on, "Yeah, and if I romance her for you, she'll fall for me instead, because once I get started, the ladies just can't help themselves. Then I'll be in trouble with you and with Bernadette. This whole go-between business is getting old, my friend."

Sheldon and Leonard arrived at that moment, and Rosalind took advantage of the interruption to make a wide circuit around the bookstore before "finding" her friends. They introduced her to Stuart, and she greeted him warmly, complimenting his shop, asking him questions about the sort of comics she was looking for. As the other men drifted off, Stuart brought her a small stack of things to go through; he leaned into Raj, and quietly commented, "I see what you mean, man." Raj nodded absently, waiting for him to leave.

Rosalind looked up from the books in front of her. "So…. Hi." Raj smiled back, but that was all he could do. She fixed his gaze for a moment, then sighed. "Maybe what we need is a Shakespearian trick. In _As You Like It_, Rosalind is hiding out in the woods, disguised as a boy, and persuades Orlando to pretend to woo him-slash-her as a substitute for Rosalind. You see, Orlando is in love with Rosalind, but he doesn't know when he'll see her again, and he's pretty nervous about how to approach her. So he's walking around the forest sticking poems he's written about her to the trees. Rosalind is charmed by this, of course – who wouldn't be? - but she doesn't want to break her disguise for all kinds of reasons that are beside the point here. Anyway, he is completely able to pour his heart out to her when he thinks she is a boy. I wonder if you could talk to me if I were disguised, somehow." Raj had never actually thought of this; he tilted his head, thinking, and trying not to show how pleased he was that she'd compared them to some romantic literary couple. He was trying to remember if _As You Like It_ ended with deaths or weddings when Leonard ambled over.

"So, you find anything?" Rosalind showed him a few items from her stack, and he commented, "Yeah, that one's really good. So, what are you two talking about?" He grinned at Raj, knowing that they weren't talking at all; she might be, but there would be no conversation.

"Shakespeare. I was wondering if it would help Raj if I disguised myself as a boy like Rosalind in_ As You Like It_."

"Rosalind, huh? Any relation?"

"Yes, my namesake. My father was a Shakespeare scholar. My sister's name is Portia."

Leonard tilted his head. "So what's this Rosalind like?"

"Strong-willed. Sharp-tongued. Quick-witted. A bit manipulative, but always to good ends. She sees Orlando's faults – he's a terrible poet, for example – but she loves him anyway." Her eyes met Raj's; he smiled as she blushed slightly. Then her cell phone rang. She checked the number, then answered hurriedly, turning away.

"Hi. Is everything OK?... Yes, absolutely, call the doctor. I'll be there in a few minutes. Bye." She turned back to Leonard and Raj, all apologies.

"I'm so sorry – it's my mother. I have to go." Raj gave a small wave, which she returned before she turned and left.

Leonard turned to his friend. "You have got to figure this out, man. You will never – and I mean never - have another chance like this."

Raj sighed and looked down at his empty hands. "I know."


	4. Chapter 5

"I can't believe you're making me do this."

"Come on, Dude, I want to see her, and you know I can't speak to her alone."

Raj and Howard were arguing in the hallway outside Raj's office when Leonard and Sheldon came through. "What are you making him do?"

Howard complained: "He is making me go with him over to Baxter Hall to find that… Rosalind. Man, she's not even that pretty. And she dresses like an English teacher."

"You take that back! And… Dude, she _is_ an English teacher." Raj was hurt. After all the stupid bars and all the times he'd been the third wheel with Howard and Bernadette, Howard's objections seemed petty.

"I'm just saying, you're so smitten with her that you think she's prettier than she really is. Objectively speaking, she's not that great. And by the way, what kind of relationship is this, anyway? She touches your arm, looks in your eyes, and suddenly she's a goddess?"

"Leonard, you tell him." Raj was bouncing back and forth, trying to keep himself from hitting his friend.

Leonard waded in with a fatherly air. "Well, Raj, you are a bit twitterpated. But, Howard, so what? If he likes her, what does it matter if she's not a fashion model?" It was worse than dealing with teenagers.

"I just think this is a big waste of time, is all." Howard did not want to be appeased.

"Twitterpated? Like Bambi?" Raj was overexcited.

"Raj, focus. And stop bouncing."

"Prince of the forest. Cool." Raj shook out his hands and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

Leonard rolled his eyes. Not teenagers, fourth-graders.

Sheldon weighed in. "Leonard is right. There's no logical reason for any two people to get together. Raj and Rosalind have as much to go on as anyone else does, as far as I can tell. Certainly this is better than the usual alcohol and desperation. "

Leonard tried another approach. "Howard, how many times has Raj gone to bars with you? This is what friends do." Turning to Raj, he continued. "What are you going to say to her?"

Raj was nonplussed; Sheldon interposed. "It seems that you should have some sort of pretext for your visit. There is no good reason for you to be in the humanities building, unless you are simply there to observe the faculty as though they were animals in the zoo. I certainly cannot imagine any better reason to go over there."

Leonard gave his roommate a sideways glance, but agreed. "He's right. You've got to have some reason for going over there."

"Can't I just go over to say hi?" wondered Raj.

"Yeah, but you don't say hi. I have to say hi, and then you'll just stand there with a silly grin on your face." Howard was still irritated.

"She makes me smile. What's wrong with that?"

Leonard sighed and pulled out his keys. "Come into my office, you two. I'll see if I can help you."

A few minutes later, Raj and Howard were on their way across campus, Raj happily tucking into his pocket a printout of a scholarly article on gender in superhero comics. He knew exactly where to find Rosalind's office.

When they got there, she was in – of course, Raj had found out her office hours – and talking with an undergraduate: "…So, while I like the idea that _Faust_ is a parody of academia, can you see how you need to provide specifics from the text to persuade me? In science, your experiment needs to be reproducible, right? In literature, I need to be able to read the text and see what you saw, OK?"

Raj and Howard exchanged glances in the hallway – Raj was smiling, happy to think of Rosalind as a good teacher, but Howard was already anxious to get back to his lab. The undergraduate was closing up his laptop and prolonging his conversation with Rosalind; they caught the tail end of his comments: "And I'm sorry about your mother, Dr. Wald. I hope you're OK."

"Thank you, Bryan. It wasn't a surprise, and it was peaceful. I'm trying to focus on those things. Let me know if you have any more questions about your paper. And Dr. McIntyre will cover class on Friday, don't forget. I'm not canceling." As she gestured toward the door, she looked up to see Howard and Raj in the hallway, and her smile was warmer as she met Raj's eyes. "Come in, come in. I don't have enough chairs, I'm afraid, but we can improvise," and she gathered her skirt around her, perched herself on the edge of her desk, and gestured to the two chairs.

"Wow, your office is so tiny," said Howard, as his eyes followed the bookcases to the ceiling. There was no spare wall space; she'd hung her diplomas on the bookcases to save room.

"It must seem that way to you," she said, "but this is actually the only office I've ever had to myself, so it seems palatial. But then, I don't operate the Mars Rover from in here." Howard sat up straighter, a bit gratified.

Raj leaned over and whispered in Howard's ear; Rosalind waited, already accepting the unique rhythm of conversation with Raj. Howard turned to her: "What happened to your mother? … We overheard …" Suddenly this seemed like an awkwardly personal sort of conversation, and he was uncomfortable.

"Oh, yes. She died. Saturday morning."

Howard didn't know how to respond – Rosalind seemed genuinely distressed, and he wasn't sure if he would be devastated or delighted to hear such news about his own mother. He didn't ponder this for long, because he was distracted by Raj's response. Raj spoke. Whether out of surprise at the news or concern for Rosalind or under the influence of some other power, Raj yelped, "You must be so sad!"

Surprised to hear his own voice, Raj blushed deeply and clapped his hands over his mouth for a moment before dropping them back in his lap.

Rosalind smiled broadly and reached out to rest her hand on Raj's. "Well, thank you, I am. But I will be fine. May I say, it's very kind of you to say it."

Howard just stared at Raj.

Raj dropped his eyes to his knee, where Rosalind's hand rested on his. He took a deep breath, and covered her hand with his free hand, then looked up at her. He didn't even try to say anything else. At that point, he wasn't sure if he cared if he ever spoke again.

Howard was still staring at Raj, and they were all still for a moment, before Howard shook his head and stood up. "Well, I'm sorry about your mother, but I think we should… Raj…" This was far more than he had bargained for.

Rosalind responded quickly. "Of course, of course. To the lab with you, away. Thank you so much for coming to see me." She released Raj's hands; although her words were for both of them, her eyes remained fixed on him. The two men went into the hall, and she sat down at her desk and pulled some papers toward her.

"What the hell was that?" Howard hissed in the hall.

"Go ahead, I'll catch up with you," Raj replied, before returning to lean against the wall across the hall from Rosalind's office. They remained like that for a few minutes; she marking on her papers, he gazing through her open office door. At one point, she reached up and lifted her Bryn Mawr diploma to pull out a book; she grabbed a post-it note from her desk drawer, jotted a note on it, and placed it carefully on what seemed like a particular page of the book. She paused, still for a moment before rising from her desk and turning to Raj. He looked up and down the hall; it was too late to run, and he smiled shyly.

"If you lurk too long, you get homework," Rosalind said, as she handed him the book. "Pay particular attention to Act IV and V. And… if you can't talk to women, maybe you can text them. Now, go, before this gets creepy."

Raj was halfway across campus before he looked at the book in his hand: Shakespeare's _As You Like It_.


	5. Chapter 6

The four men huddled in the corner of the church hall, looking around them, uncomfortable in their suits and overwhelmed by the well-dressed crowd.

"I can't believe you talked us into coming to this ridiculous example of religious fear-mongering. If you need a translator, bring Wolowitz. Why are we here?" Sheldon complained.

"I thought it was a nice service. A little boring, but I guess you don't want too much excitement at a funeral," Leonard chimed in. "Besides, if Raj is going to speak again, I want to witness it."

"It really happened, I'm telling you." Howard was annoyed that nobody believed him; Raj's affirmation hadn't actually helped his case much.

"Guys, you know why I'm here. Even if I can't say anything to her, it's a chance to see her." Raj was craning his neck, trying to find Rosalind through the crowd.

"Well, it seems an ominous site for a date, if you ask me. I don't pretend to understand such things." Sheldon was dismissive.

"There she is!" Raj tried not to seem too excited; it was, after all Rosalind's mother's funeral. He did wave a little, though, as she made her way through the crowd, speaking to everyone she passed, shaking hands, smiling solemnly.

Finally, she made it to their corner, and greeted each of them individually. "Thank you for coming, Sheldon. I know this must not be very comfortable for you. Leonard, You really didn't have to do this. It's especially nice since you've certainly come as much for Raj's sake as for mine," she said as she shook Howard's hand, "And that kind of loyalty is laudable." Finally she turned to Raj, and she didn't shake his hand; she just held it. "Thank you."

Leonard knew the polite formulas. "It was a nice service. I've never been to a funeral where there were Girl Scouts, though."

Rosalind smiled. "They sang well, didn't they? My mother was very serious about the Girl Scouts. My great-great grandmother was a member of the first troop in Pasadena, you know."

Raj gestured as if to ask a question. Rosalind understood and answered, "Oh yes, me too. Gold Award. And I'm one of the leaders of the troop that sang today."

"Oh, God, it's Dr. Siebert," Howard gasped, as Sheldon and Leonard tried to turn away. Rosalind dropped Raj's hand and strode forward to greet the university president with a hug.

"Uncle Don! Aunt Dottie! It's good to see you. Let me introduce you to some friends: Dr. Koothrappali, Astrophysics; Mr. Wolowitz, engineering; and Dr. Hofstadter and Dr. Cooper, ordinary Physics. Gentlemen, Dr. and Mrs. Siebert."

Mrs. Siebert extended a polite hand, but her husband glared at Sheldon. "We've met. Rosie, how do you know these people?"

Rosalind smiled, her arm through his. "You know how much we Baxters enjoy interdisciplinarity, Uncle Don."

He grunted, but continued the conversation. "You must come over tonight after you take Portia to the airport. Do you know what you are going to do?"

"Really, that's a kind invitation, but I already have plans for this evening. Why don't you give me a little time to go over things, and then I will certainly come to you for advice. Why don't you both come for brunch after church on Sunday? See if Adam and Erik can come. That would do me good."

The Sieberts nodded their agreement to her plan before someone else waved them over to a table laden with cookies and tea.

Rosalind turned to find all four men staring at her. Leonard was the first to find his tongue. "Uncle Don? Aunt Dottie?"

Rosalind rubbed her hands together. "Oh, yes, I grew up with the Sieberts. He and my father were great friends. He just wants me to come over so he can find out what's in the will, if my mother's going to donate to another building project for him."

Leonard was putting things together. "So, then, that's Baxter, as in Baxter Humanities Building?"

"When my father died, my mother thought it was a fitting tribute. I use my mother's maiden name on campus because I don't want to be perceived as a legacy hire, even if I probably am."

Raj was nodding – the name difference had given him some trouble when he was tracking down the funeral – and wishing Rosalind would hold his hand again. Howard had another question, "So, what is in the will?"

Rosalind sighed, and, to Raj's pleasure, picked up his hand again. "I don't know. We go to the lawyer's this afternoon. I assume – everyone assumes – that beyond bequests to the school and the Girl Scouts, my sister will inherit. She was mother's favorite."

Howard pressed: "Inherit what?"

"Well, the rest - the house, the charitable foundation, the interest in the family business, the other properties. I don't even know what all there is. It's OK. I always have a backup plan."

Sheldon was irritated. "But that's impractical. If, as you say, your sister has a family and home and law practice in Boston, what would she want with a house and properties in Pasadena? Certainly, since you are employed here, you have more use for such things."

Rosalind agreed. "I would love to stay in the house, and I'm sure Portia wouldn't - couldn't, really - sell it right away. She would probably even let me stay through the end of the term, if I can afford the rent, or deal with the real estate people on her behalf, or otherwise earn my keep. The house has always been in the family; my great-great grandfather built it. Selling it would be a mammoth undertaking, but Portia has made it clear that she regards liquidation as the only practical approach."

"That would be sensible," Sheldon agreed.

"I'm afraid so," Rosalind nodded sadly, as the breadth of her loss spread out in front of her. Raj pulled her toward him, and she leaned her head on his shoulder; for a moment all five of them were quiet.

Rosalind broke the silence. "Well, I should probably – you know – circulate. It was really good of you all to come. Thank you." She squeezed Raj's hand, took a deep breath, and, after looking back at him, let go and walked off into the crowd.

"What did she mean, 'ordinary Physics'?" Sheldon exclaimed, as he suddenly realized how he'd been introduced to Dr. Siebert.

Howard turned eagerly to Raj, "I underestimated you, man. An heiress!"

"Dude, except she's not. Her sister's going to turn her out. Weren't you paying attention?" Raj was annoyed with his friend.

"A vulnerable heiress, then. You are so in there!"

Raj just shook his head and sighed.


	6. Chapter 7

Raj paced about his living room, occasionally glancing at the unopened wine bottle on the kitchen counter. He'd been texting Rosalind since Monday, as she'd suggested, and he thought it had been going well. He had felt like they were starting to get to know one another, like there was a real rapport, even though she was so busy with the funeral plans. Of course, he'd been as surprised as the rest by what they'd learned after the funeral that morning. _If she needs a place, she could stay here_, but then he shook his head at the absurdity of the notion. Rosalind was entirely too practical to move in with a guy she had barely met, a guy who couldn't even speak to her. On the other hand, she had turned down an invitation from the university president to keep her plans with him. That was an encouraging thought.

There was a knock on the door. Raj ushered in Rosalind; she was still wearing the black suit and heels she'd had on at the funeral. He could see that she was exhausted, and he wondered if he shouldn't have suggested a different night for this. _Mustn't back out now._ He caught up both her hands, and led her to the couch. She was about to speak, to say something polite, no doubt, but he put up a hand to stop her.

He cleared his throat, took a deep breath like a swimmer before a plunge, and said, "Fair youth, I would I could make thee believe I love."

She blinked a moment, but knew exactly what the correct response was, had known these speeches since her father used to rehearse them with her in the car on family vacations; she bounced to her feet and replied, her weariness falling away, "Me believe it! You may as soon make her that you love believe it; which, I warrant, she is apter to do than to confess she does: that is one of the points in the which women still give the lie to their consciences. But, in good sooth, are you he that hangs the verses on the trees, wherein Rosalind is so admired?"

He stood, grinning, and replied, "I swear to thee, youth, by the white hand of Rosalind, I am that he, that unfortunate he."

She smiled and took his hands in hers. "But are you so much in love as your rhymes speak?"

"Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much." With that, he was done with speeches. Raj pulled Rosalind into his arms and kissed her; they both sat on the couch, and kissed once more for good measure.

"So?" she asked. "Have you broken the spell?"

He laughed, and said, "Yes, I think so. Oh! Rosalind! There's so much to say, I don't know where to start!"

She leaned in, all eagerness, and peppered him with questions. What was his family like? What was his research about? What books did he like? And every answer led to another question, all night long.

Morning found them still on the couch, but asleep, Rosalind's head on Raj's chest, Raj's arms wrapped around her, snug under a blanket. Neither stirred when the knock came on the door, or when Howard let himself into the apartment with his key, or when he motioned to Leonard and Sheldon, who had hung back by the door. When he saw what was going on, Leonard tried to get the others to leave, but Howard was determined. "Raj, wake up. We're supposed to go kite-flying today!"

Raj stirred, but did not open his eyes. "Howard? Go away. I was having the nicest dream. I stayed up all night talking with Rosalind, then I fell asleep with her in my arms."

"Well, buddy, that's cute, but we have plans, so ditch the babe, and let's get going."

Rosalind patted Raj on the chest. "If you have plans, Raj, I should probably get going."

He opened his eyes and sat up. "You are here. You were here last night. We did talk all night."

She smiled, "And you can still talk to me," and leaned in to kiss him. "I think you need to talk to your friends a little bit, though."

They were standing behind Raj, so he couldn't see the shock and surprise on their faces, but she could. "I don't want to talk to them. I want to talk with you."

"Yes, dear, but I think you need to talk to them right now."

The men moved over to the dining table. Howard was confused, and Leonard was amused. Raj was trying to explain what was happening, but he only barely understood it himself. Sheldon leaned back, skeptical, watching Rosalind rather than his friends. She was putting herself in order: shaking out her hair and repinning her bun, rubbing her teeth with her finger. She dug a mint out of the bottom of her purse, shrugged, and tossed into her mouth. She turned and went into the kitchen. Sheldon lost interest in the argument at the dining table—they were just going in circles, anyway – and followed her.

"What are you doing?"

"Making breakfast," she said, finding eggs and cheese and half a brick of frozen spinach.

"I can see that. Why?"

"I'm hungry?" She was setting the oven and thawing the spinach. "Leonard doesn't do dairy, right?"

"No, he doesn't. So you're not just cooking for yourself. What is going on here?"

"I thought Raj explained it pretty well," she replied, blandly.

"No, but you're up to something. Is this your backup plan? Are you buttering him up so that he'll take you in when your sister kicks you out?"

She laughed. "Really? You think that's what I'm up to? 'Will trade cooking for space on your couch?' That's not much of a backup plan, especially considering, before last night, he'd only spoken five words to me. Besides, my mother surprised everybody and left me the house. I'm free and clear – no ulterior motives." She was chopping and stirring as she talked.

"Well, then, you're trying to seduce him."

"Oh, yeah, that's me. The seductress with a spatula. Besides, he's the one who invited me to his apartment and recited Shakespeare to me. Sounds like I'm the one being seduced."

"Well, look at him. I've never seen him so…. Happy."

"Hmm. That's terrible, really. Can you make this coffee machine work?" Sheldon did as he was told, so Rosalind went ahead and explained. "Call it a peace offering, if you like. I have no desire to break up your little group, but I don't want to go away, either."

She folded the cheeseless omelet onto a plate for Leonard, and pulled the frittata out of the oven. "Help me serve."

Sheldon sighed, but took a stack of plates and handful of forks to the table. Rosalind followed with the frittata, handing Raj the spatula for serving. Leonard was inspecting the frittata to see if it contained cheese when she brought out his plate and slid it in front of him. The men froze, mid-conversation, suddenly aware of Rosalind's presence, and looked at her, surprised.

"The coffee machine is doing … something, so you can help yourselves to whatever you like. I actually have to go do some things, so you guys work it all out and let me know what the verdict is, OK?" She leaned over and kissed Raj on the forehead; he reached for her hand and pulled her in for a longer kiss. She smiled and tousled his hair, then went on her way.

Leonard looked up from his omelet, "Sorry, Howard, I think she's staying."

Sheldon nodded. "She's not bad for a literature person."

Raj leaned over towards Howard, "You're just going to have to get used to it, Dude." He sat back. "And so am I."


	7. Chapter 8

Two months later found Raj at his friends' apartment in a tuxedo, with Sheldon and Leonard gathered around him, trying to tie the bow tie.

When Rosalind had first invited him to this charity ball, it had sounded fun, actually, like something out of a novel or a movie. He'd been delighted to prove to her that he really could handle the ballroom dancing – Priya had made sure of that – and he'd accepted the attentions of the tailor who made over her father's tuxedo for him, surprised and pleased at the results. But as the date approached, he became increasingly anxious. She'd grown up among Pasadena socialites, she knew them and their ways; he was worried that he'd just be the rumpled immigrant scientist in the corner.

"This isn't working. We need Penny," and Leonard threw up his hands and went across the hall for their neighbor's help.

"Wow," said Penny as she entered the apartment, "If had known you were going to turn out like this, I would've tried to cure you with Shakespeare."

Raj smiled – he did think the suit fit well – and flapped the ends of the bow tie at her. "Help."

The more he knew Rosalind, the less he was intimidated by other women, but he still couldn't talk with other women as well as he could with her. He was beginning to think that was more because Rosalind was so easy to talk to than because he was anxious around the other women.

"Well, let's see what I can do here, now." She pulled and tugged and looped, but couldn't figure out the tie either. "Well, maybe Rosalind can tie it, right before she rips the suit off you."

Raj sighed.

Leonard intervened, "Penny. Shhh."

"What—you mean they haven't…?"

"No, and it worries him."

"You guys, I'm right here." Raj groaned.

"Well, honey, don't worry. You look great – maybe tonight will be your night. If it isn't, come look me up." Penny gave Raj a kiss on the cheek that made him blush.

Sheldon turned around from his computer, where he'd been trying to follow a bowtying video on youtube. "Raj, just because Rosalind is not as sexually aggressive as Penny, that doesn't mean that she isn't interested in you. Hardly anyone is as sexually aggressive as Penny."

"I love you too, Sheldon," Penny said before returning to her apartment.

"I've got to go, she'll be waiting." Raj left with his tie loose.

He was still getting used to life with a girlfriend, much less a girlfriend who came from old money. The beautiful old Mission revival house in the WASPish neighborhood no longer terrified him, although he never had understood her literary joke about the green shutters. The baronial lawn that stretched behind the house down to the guest cottage had ceased to be imposing the Saturday she'd helped him scratch out a makeshift Cricket pitch, which he'd used to teach her and the Girl Scouts the basics of the game. That had been a wonderful day; watching her laugh and play with her scouts, he'd seen the girl she'd once been and the mother she might someday be and loved them both.

Mostly, they'd spent time in "his" world. They'd gone to the movies with his friends, and rather than object to Sheldon's odd methods of finding the seat according to the acoustical sweet spot of the room, she'd started him on a week-long project creating a statistical model that would predict the best seat in a theater. Raj had objected to Sheldon's monopolization of Rosalind for that week, but was flattered when Sheldon wished aloud that Leonard could find as reasonable a woman as Rosalind, and, indeed, the new system did result in less embarrassment at the movies. They'd even gone on a double date with Howard and Bernadette; after that, Howard seemed to less threatened by Rosalind.

They saw each other almost daily; she played games with him and his friends; they ate meals together. Sometimes she brought her grading and curled up in a corner of his office, and they would work together. He'd learned that she had an encyclopedic knowledge of campfire songs, a subversive sense of humor, and pretty decent skills as an electrician. She never wanted him to change the way he dressed or to buy her gifts; she seemed to want nothing so much as his company. She was always, it seemed, inquisitive, bright, and warm, and while life with Rosalind was certainly not dull, it was becoming more and more comfortable.

Even so, he wasn't prepared for what greeted him at the door this evening: Rosalind, not in her everyday, modest, professional clothes and neat little bun, but Rosalind, bare-shouldered in an elegant brown silk gown, her hair swept up theatrically in a way that drew attention to her bare shoulders, bare neck, and lovely face. Raj found himself actually weak-kneed; he rested his hand on the doorframe to brace himself.

She smiled and grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him into the house. "Mmmm." she smiled. "Yes, absolutely."

"I was going to say the same about you, but you took my breath away." For that, Raj was rewarded with a kiss. She grabbed a silk and velvet shawl and they were on their way.

In all the years Raj had lived in Pasadena, he'd never been to the Huntington. For Rosalind, it was like her own private playground; her father had spent summers researching in the library, and her mother had volunteered as a docent in the gardens. She took his arm as they ascended the steps into the marble mansion built with the profits from the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, and somehow managed to make it look like he was leading her, rather than the other way around.

"We'll find Adam and Erik; they'll help you with your tie."

She steered him towards the musicians, where she knew they would find her friends. Rosalind was eager for them to meet. "Raj, this is Adam Siebert-Montero, my dear, dear friend. Adam, this is the charming Dr. Raj Koothrappali."

Raj was surprised when Adam greeted him with a bear hug. "It's so good to finally meet you, Raj. I'm so glad you two found each other. You have to keep our girl Rosalind here; don't let her run off to Philadelphia or Brazil or some other ridiculous place. We need her with us."

Raj nodded. The bear hug and the clear affection between Rosalind and Adam made him nervous. Rosalind asked Adam, "Where's Erik? Raj needs help with his tie, and I know you're no use with these things."

Erik arrived at that moment, and Raj quicklly realized he had nothing to worry about regarding Adam. The two men leaned together; Erik straightened Adam's collar affectionately, letting his hand rest on the taller man's shoulder before turning to Raj.

"You must be Raj. I'm Erik Siebert-Montero. Rosalind has talked about nothing and no one else for the last two months. She hasn't even complained about her grading." Raj shook hands, relieved not to be hugged, and Erik paused and looked at Rosalind. "When are you going to learn to tie one of these, Rosalind? Come with me."

Raj followed obediently, leaving Adam and Rosalind giggling like schoolchildren behind him.

In the men's room Erik fussed with Raj's tie and smoothed out his collar.

"Don't worry about them. I used to worry about her – who wants to get involved with some guy who's hung up on a straight girl? – but they're like siblings. I owe her a lot, actually. She saved Adam's life in high school, and I don't mean she was his friend when no one else was, although that's true, too; she literally saved his life. She talked the old man into coming to our wedding; she's half the reason he'll talk to Adam at all." Erik was straightening Raj's sleeves, now, making sure that the coat sleeves and the shirt sleeves hung together. Raj was bewildered by Erik's non-stop speech and motion, but clung to the information he provided.

"The first time I came to one of these things, I was scared out of my mind. Adam was so worried about his dad that he was no use. Rosalind took me in hand, introduced me around, nudged me in the right directions. Trust Rosalind. She'll get you through this." Erik kept talking as he pulled out a comb and neatened Raj's hair, then carefully disarranged it.

"That's my advice. Trust Rosalind. And shake hands. When in doubt, shake hands. The only people I know who shake hands more than these people are my _tios_ back home in Riverside." He stepped back to examine Raj, who was beginning to feel pretty silly, then turned him to the mirror. Raj looked good. Both men smiled.

"OK," Raj said. _Trust Rosalind_. What else had he done for the past two months?

He did, and as Erik had promised, the evening went well. He learned that he liked the dancing best – that was almost like being alone with Rosalind, at a party just for the two of them – but she had to do a certain amount of hand-shaking and socializing, and she made that go smoothly too. He had even managed a short conversation with Dr. Siebert, while Rosalind and Mrs. Siebert were in the ladies' room. At one point, there were toasts, and Rosalind was called upon to make a speech. Everyone applauded genteely, and the people near him nodded at Raj, as though complimenting him on her charms. He felt oddly pleased and proprietary.

After the speeches, Rosalind showed him through the galleries. He liked this, too; she could talk easily about art, or use a painting as a pretext to talk about something else. Pinky and Blue Boy were duly admired, but she stopped him in front of an enormous painting of a woman in a brown dress, with shadowy figures lurking behind her. Her face and pose were striking.

"I always liked this painting." Rosalind said. "She's an actress. Sarah Siddons."

"She's both beautiful and terrifying," Raj said.

Rosalind replied. "Oh yes, because she's saying, 'I can kill you with my mind.'" Raj laughed out loud, and suddenly he saw himself: at a posh gala, with an elegant girlfriend, admiring famous artwork, and laughing at his girlfriend's _Firefly_ references. It was all a bit surreal. Not bad, but definitely surreal.

"Hey," he said, almost as an afterthought, "With that wrap, your dress looks like hers a little bit."

Rosalind smiled, and posed with her wrap: "Beautiful and terrifying?" she asked. Then she dropped the pose, returned to herself, and took his arm. "You get extra boyfriend points for noticing," she said with a smile.

Rosalind made sure that they met up with Adam and Erik at regular intervals; the more he got to know them, the more comfortable he was with them. At one point he found himself sidelined with Adam – Rosalind was dancing with Erik – and he realized that Adam had been waiting to get him alone.

"She's beautiful tonight, isn't she?" Adam didn't even wait for Raj to reply. "Sarah Siddons all over. I can't remember the last time she was this serene. She really trusts you, you know."

"Well, I hope so." Raj wondered what Adam was getting at.

"No, you don't understand. She doesn't trust people. She came here with you, in your car, didn't she?"

Raj nodded.

"She's been to your apartment alone, hasn't she?"

Raj nodded again, wondering why it was so hard for Adam to get to the point.

Adam nodded back, as though Raj's consent had proved something. "She trusts you. Let me explain. Six months or so before she met you, she went on a date. Some historian, I think, who had been pestering her. She drove herself, met him at the restaurant, and made sure that Erik and I would be there, too. Not at the same table, of course, but within earshot. She doesn't trust people – well, men. She doesn't trust men. She trusts you, though, and I figure that makes you pretty special."

Raj wanted to ask Adam if Rosalind really had saved his life, but instead, he pointed out the obvious, "She trusts you and Erik too."

Adam nodded, and turned to face him. "And we would do anything for her. So don't – don't do anything to break that trust. If you hurt her…" Adam patted Raj on the arm, and for a moment Raj was very conscious of how tall Adam was. "But you won't."

"No, I won't." was all Raj could think to say. Adam waved the dancers over, and traded places with Erik. Rosalind smiled apologetically before Adam whisked her off.

Erik wasted no time getting to the point: "So, Raj. Did Adam threaten you?"

"A little bit, yeah." Raj was hoping Erik would explain what was going on.

"Don't think he doesn't mean it, and don't think I wouldn't back him."

Raj was getting fed up. "Look, I don't know what you guys think I am going to do. All I want is to be with Rosalind."

"Sorry, man. You're not the only one who loves her, you know?"

Raj didn't know how to reply to that, so the two men stood in silence until the music stopped.

When Adam and Rosalind returned, Raj grabbed her arm. "Is there someplace we can talk?"

"Sure, follow me," she said, and led him across the marble porch and down the great lawn to an enormous tree. She sat down on the bench beneath it and patted the seat next to her. Raj did not sit.

"What is going on? You lead me on, dress me up, then bring me here so that your friends can threaten me. Why is Adam going on about you trusting me? Why won't you…" He stopped. Talking to women was turning out to cause as many problems as not talking to them had. Rosalind was quiet for a moment.

"You make me sound like the femme fatale in some gumshoe novel, luring the handsome hero to his doom. I should have realized that Adam would do something like that. I guess I feel so protective of him that I forget that he feels that way about me." She sighed – there was no way to keep this light - and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, and when she spoke now, her voice was low and still, and her words were deliberate.

"Adam probably told you that I don't trust many people. He's right. I keep most people at arm's length. I'm outgoing, but I don't let anyone get too close. It's a bit lonely at times, but I don't like risk, and I'd made my peace with it. Then my mother called, and I couldn't keep her at arm's length anymore. Then I met you, and I didn't want to keep you at arm's length. I wanted to pull you in – or be pulled in by you…"

Raj had spent all his anger in his first outburst; he sat down beside her. "Then why haven't we made love?"

She looked at him, sideways, and her eyes were so sad he was surprised that she wasn't crying. She looked away, and spoke again, almost mechanically. "My sophomore year of undergrad, there was this guy from Villanova. We met for coffee a few times. I think we went to a movie. Then I went with him to a party at his fraternity. He was drunk and strong, and I was stupid and trusting and didn't have a backup plan."

She pounded her leg with her fist, still angry with herself. She stood and turned away from Raj, pulling her wrap around her and all but disappearing in the dark. "I didn't want anything about you to remind me of him."

It took Raj a minute to realize what she was telling him, but in a flash he understood her friends' threats and her wariness, and felt what a risk he represented for her. He was grateful, more than anything; all along he'd felt like she had rescued him, and her need for him was a welcome balance. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was afraid it would be too much. I was afraid you'd leave." She turned around to face him.

Raj stood and took her hands. "Leave – for what? For whom? Rosalind, I was ready to throw myself at your feet when you were on the verge of losing your home and your job, and I couldn't even speak to you. I love you. Do I have to pin poetry to the trees? I'm not going anywhere. Besides, I don't want to be killed by gay preppies."

She smiled a little, and Raj felt as though she were returning to him from a great distance.

He continued. "We'll figure this out. How did you deal with this with other boyfriends?"

She shook her head.

"You didn't deal with it?"

She looked at him. "There weren't any other boyfriends."

Raj's mind was clicking. "So does that mean that you haven't… since you were a sophomore…"

She shook her head. "Just that one time. Pretty pitiful, I suppose, but I just locked all that away. I never particularly wanted to until now."

Music spilled down the lawn from the house, and they subconsciously assumed the starting position for the waltz, his hand around her waist, hers on his shoulder, their other hands meeting loosely in the air, together in the companionable darkness.

"Come home with me tonight," Raj said, then kissed her again, but not on the mouth. He kissed her on that beautiful bare shoulder he'd been staring at all evening. He heard her sharp intake of breath and felt her arms encircling him.

Raj kissed her again, this time on the neck, and murmured in her ear, "Trust me, Rosalind."


	8. New Chapter!

Even after that night, even though they began spending several nights together a week, Rosalind still insisted that Raj spend plenty of time with his friends. She always had something to do – sorting through her mother's things, going through legal documents for her mother's charities, attending business meetings with her uncles, working on her research, grading student essays – and she said she always trusted him to come back to her.

Late one night, the men were driving through downtown Pasadena on the way home from a monster movie marathon. Sheldon was in the middle of lecturing them on the proper translation of the Gamera song, when Howard interrupted him, "Hey, Raj, isn't that your girlfriend?"

The men looked across the street at the woman in a sundress and loose cardigan; Raj pounded on the back of the driver's seat. "Leonard, turn around!"

Leonard glanced around, then pulled a U-turn in the middle of the deserted street. Raj pounded on Sheldon's seat. "Sheldon, roll down your window. Call to her!"

Sheldon sighed, then leaned out and called, banging on the car door, "Rosalind! Rosalind! Rosalind!"

She turned – it was indeed Rosalind - and greeted them with only mild surprise. "Hi!" She leaned down to look in the window. "Hey, Raj. How are you guys? How were the movies?"

Raj was sputtering. "What are you doing?"

Rosalind looked down at her feet and deadpanned, "Walking?"

Raj was cross. "Walking where? Do you know what time it is?"

Rosalind was still oddly casual. "Just walking. I'm a regular Clarisse McClellan. Oh, and…" she looked at her watch, "it's 2:30, give or take. Isn't it past your bedtime?"

Leonard was worried about an argument, so he interrupted, "Rosalind, would you like a ride home?"

She shook her head. "I'm good. Goodnight, guys." She stood up and patted the roof of the car, as one would when dismissing a taxi, before stepping back to the curb.

Howard leaned toward Raj. "Man, you've got to go."

For an answer, he got a door slammed in his face. Raj was already on the curb with Rosalind. Leonard shook his head and pulled away.

Raj was upset. "I can't believe you're walking up and down the streets at night. It's not safe."

She smiled at his concern. "Don't worry. It's all strictly amateur."

He was not amused. She added, "Really, Raj, dear, it's perfectly safe. Walk with me."

Her arm in his, Rosalind steered Raj down the street, then turned off the main road into a residential neighborhood that was mostly apartments and old houses that had been converted to apartments. "When I was in high school, I used to sneak out at night and wander up and down the streets. Sometimes I'd go over a few blocks and rouse a friend, or some cousins, but they always got in trouble, so I usually just wandered on my own. I know every street between the Huntington and the 110."

Raj began to object, but she stopped him, patting his arm. "Don't be so worried for my long-ago teenage self. Pasadena is perfectly safe. So is Bryn Mawr. Philadelphia and Rio? You just have to know where to go. I'm careful; when I was in Mexico City, I hardly walked out at night at all. Such a shame. Such beautiful streets."

He repeated his reproachful look. "I have trouble sleeping." she replied, by way of explanation, before adding on, "And I can take care of myself."

"But I want to take care of you," Raj said. She indicated a turn, and he followed her.

"I appreciate that, I really do. But there's nothing to worry about. I walk, and I think. I look at the houses and the plants and the stars, and I think. After an hour or so, I go home, and I can sleep."

They walked in silence for a few minutes; Raj noticed that the apartments were giving way to small houses. Suddenly, something occurred to him. "But you've never done this before. You've spent the night at my place – I've been at yours – and you never got up and left in the middle of the night."

Rosalind sighed. "Yeah, I know. Lately, that's what I think about most nights. Why can I sleep when I'm with you? Is it the sex? Is it your comforting presence? Is it some combination of the two, or some other factor entirely?"

Raj didn't know how to respond to that, so he prompted her again. "What else do you think about when you're out walking at night?"

She smiled. "I think about you. I think about books. I think about the past. I think about the plants and the seasons. I think about the stars."

This was something Raj could respond to. He didn't know books as well as she did, and he was only beginning to grasp her relationship to her past and her place. He wanted to keep her talking, so he asked, "What do you think about the stars?"

Rosalind smiled. "Actually, when I think of the stars, I usually think of ancient peoples. Imagine, you're barely subsisting, thinking only about how not to die – about food and shelter and maybe sex – and you look up at all those lights. They can't do anything for you; you can't eat stars. But do people ignore them? No, not at all. Instead, people construct constellations and tell stories about them, and the stories are all stories about loss – about the man who falls from the sky, or the woman who is taken up to the sky – and because they are stories about loss, that makes them stories about connection, too. So the stars always make me think about how people need stories and the connections they make just as much as people need food and shelter." She paused for breath, and Raj looked at her, surprised and impressed. "But that's just my pitiful little humanities brain," she added hastily.

"No, that's – that's beautiful, really. I never thought of it that way, and I spend a lot of time thinking about stars." Raj looked up at the few stars that shone through the urban haze. They stopped on a street corner; they were deeper in the neighborhood now, and the houses and lawns were larger and more elegant. Raj returned his gaze from the heavens and found himself looking down into Rosalind's upturned face. He kissed her; what else could he do? "I'm still worried about you," he said, but he was past his first anger.

She took his hand and pulled him along the sidewalk. "I'm not used to people being worried about me. I'm not trying to be difficult, here, but I'm used to being on my own."

Raj hurried to keep up with her. "Me, too, you know? I'm doing my best, here, and I need you to let me in."

Rosalind slowed down a little, but didn't meet his eye. They walked together for another few minutes; he recognized her street, and when they reached her house, he was first through the gate. When they reached the door, he leaned against it. "Rosalind, talk to me."

She pulled out her keys and looked him in the eye. "OK, Raj. Stay."

"Stay? What do you mean, stay?" Raj wasn't sure what Rosalind was saying.

"Come in. Stay. You stay, I can sleep, I won't go walking, you won't have to worry. Stay."

"When you say 'Stay,' do you mean tonight, or do you mean, 'Move in'?"

Rosalind's smile was thin and a little nervous. "Can we just say, 'Stay'? Just… stay awhile?"

She put the housekeys in his hand, and Raj turned to open the door. He held it open for Rosalind, and rested a protective hand upon her shoulder as she passed him.


	9. Last Chapter!

When Raj's lease came up that August, it was Rosalind who suggested that he give up the apartment. She made it sound practical, which he had to concede, it was. He said he'd think about it; as usual, thinking about it meant discussing it with his friends.

Leonard was incredulous: "Raj, you used to spend all your time complaining about living in a crappy apartment and having no girlfriend. Now you have a nice, smart girlfriend who wants you to move into her beautiful house. How is this even a question?"

Raj pushed, "I don't want to feel like a kept man."

Howard chimed in, "Then pay rent, pay bills, buy groceries."

Raj tried another objection, "But I don't want to lose my independence."

Howard dismissed this with, "What independence? You've been following her like a puppy dog since March. Are you going to suddenly start dating other women?"

Raj considered this. "Well, I could. Couldn't I?"

Even Howard rejected this, with, "Sure, if you're a jerk."

"I'm going to have to side with Wolowitz on this one," Sheldon chimed in. "You owe Rosalind your ability to speak to women at all. To use that to go to other women, abandoning her, would be ungrateful, to say the least."

Leonard tried another angle, "Look, you're already living with her. How big of a change is this really?"

Raj looked around at his friends. "So, you guys think I should do this. You don't think this is all moving too fast?"

Leonard nodded, "Oh, it's fast all right. Too fast, I don't know. Are you happy? Is she happy?"

Raj was pensive: "Some days, I feel like we've been together for years."

Howard cut him off. "That doesn't actually answer the question, Raj. Were my parents happy? What about yours?"

Raj pondered that: "I don't know if my parents are happy. I never really thought about it. I think they love each other, in their own weird way."

Leonard cut in, "That's the bigger question, Raj. You might be happy sometimes, you might be unhappy sometimes. But are you in love?"

That evening, he went back to his apartment to sort things out. He'd spent very little time there in the past few months; he'd gone there to work sometimes, or after a late night with the guys, or for his weekly conversation with his parents. He'd spent a few days there when Rosalind had traveled to New Mexico to visit with her favorite aunt, and he'd felt weird about staying in her house on his own. Giving up the place felt strange, but returning to it felt strange, too, and it seemed to him that this was the choice he was faced with, really; all or nothing.

He quickly fell into his bachelor habits; after he dozed off on the couch in front of the TV, he decided to go to bed. But he couldn't get comfortable. His bed was narrow and cold; Rosalind's bed was larger, with good linens. His room was cramped and dark and smelled of old laundry; Rosalind's second-floor bedroom had a Juliet balcony; she kept the doors open at night, and the room smelled of jasmine and was lit with moonlight; the curtains moved in the night breezes. His air conditioning felt clinical and stale. He sat up, sighing, and pulled on some clothes. When he left his apartment, his thought was that he might sleep better if he could find some jasmine to tuck in his pillow, but as he wandered, he forgot that plan. The quiet, the fresh air, the movement, all soothed him, and he let his thoughts flow. He had no idea how long he'd been walking, or even where he was, when he became aware of a presence beside him. Rosalind matched her pace to his and met his glance, but otherwise said nothing. He noticed that she was wearing his sweater vest. It looked good on her, too.

"Hey," he nodded.

"Hey, yourself."

"You're wearing my vest," Raj pointed out.

"It's cozy. It smells like you." Rosalind smiled to herself. "You couldn't sleep?"

"I couldn't sleep." Raj affirmed. "You?"

Rosalind shook her head.

Raj tried scolding. "You're not supposed to be out alone at night, you know."

Rosalind shrugged. "As it turns out, I'm not alone."

Raj nodded. That was true.

"Still thinking, I take it?" Rosalind asked. Raj nodded again. "Anything I can help with?" Rosalind asked.

Raj shook his head, then switched to nodding. "Yes, actually, you can."

Rosalind stopped and turned to him, all eagerness. "What can I do?"

"You can stop being so damn accommodating, is what. Make some demands, expect something of me."

"What?" Rosalind was confused.

Raj warmed up. "You're always so nice. You make everything easy for me; you never asked me to change in any way."

"Why would I want you to change? I never understood that. If I like you, why would I want you change? And how would my suddenly becoming demanding make you less reluctant to leave your apartment?" Rosalind was confused.

When she put it that way, Raj was confused. "I feel like you're doing everything in this relationship. I don't want to be the…. junior partner."

Rosalind nodded. "OK. I don't think you are, but that's not the point here. Cards on the table?"

"Cards on the table." Raj nodded back.

Rosalind took a deep breath, then forged ahead. "I love you, Raj. I want to be with you. Other than a roof over my head and decent work, that's pretty much all I want in the world right now. But I'll tell you one thing you can do for me: you can tell your parents about us."

It was Raj's turn to stop in his tracks. "Rosalind… You know what my parents are like."

"No, I don't, and they don't know what I'm like." She turned to face him.

"They want me to settle down with an Indian girl. You're not Indian." Raj disagreed with his parents, but he understood their point of view. Still, it sounded pretty stupid when he tried to explain it to Rosalind.

"Priya thinks they can handle it. She thinks they'd take the line that any woman is better than no woman." Rosalind did not back off.

"Priya? How do you know Priya? What…" Raj was befuddled.

"Settle down, Raj. She thought you seemed 'unusually contented' lately – her words – so she e-mailed Leonard. He gave her my e-mail address, and she got in touch. That was a month ago. She's nice." Rosalind explained. "Talk to her, if you don't believe me."

They started walking again. Raj didn't know what to think. He was annoyed with his sister, but she might have a better read on his parents' attitude than he did. He did his best to avoid discussing women when he talked to his parents; it had been a few weeks since he'd even heard a lecture about the virtues of Indian wives. He sighed. "I don't know, Rosalind."

"Well, you'd better make up your mind before you give up your lease." Rosalind was firm.

"You'll break up with me if I don't talk to them?" Raj was surprised.

Rosalind shook her head. "No, Raj. I won't. But I'm worried that you'll break up with me if they do, in fact, disapprove. I don't want you to wind up homeless."

Raj hadn't thought of that. He'd never been in the position to choose between his parents and a girlfriend, and he didn't like it. He looked around. "Where are we, Rosalind?"

She smiled and pointed around the corner. "Your apartment is two blocks that way. I'm walking you back home."

"Home?" the word pointed in so many directions – his apartment, her house, his parents' – he was disoriented.

"Here," Rosalind held out her hand. "Take it. Jasmine. It's my favorite. The scent always makes me feel like I'm home."

They were in front of his apartment now. Raj took the flower and smiled. He pulled her into his arms for a kiss. "I'll, um, come by tomorrow, OK?"

Rosalind nodded, kissed him on the cheek, then turned to walk herself home. He watched her until she reached the corner, then sighed and went into his building.

The next day, he turned up at Rosalind's door with his laptop in his hands. She stood aside to let him in; he went into the living room, connected to the network, and called up his parents on Skype. Rosalind stood across the room, anxious. His parents were instantly alarmed; he rarely called them, and they worried that something had happened. He reassured them, and then they noticed his surroundings.

"Where are you? This isn't your apartment. What's going on, Raj?" The questions poured over each other and Raj barely had a chance to get a word in edgewise.

Finally, Raj burst in on them. "Mami, Papi, I've met a girl." _That shut them up_, he thought.

After a minute's shock, his parents had more questions: "What is she like? Are you in her house? Does she work at the university? Is she a scientist?"

Raj smiled. At least they hadn't brought up race first. They might have a chance after all. "Her name is Rosalind Wald. She teaches English at the university. This is her – our – house."

His mother reacted, "Wald? That's not an Indian name."

"No, Mami, it's not. She's smart and funny and pretty and I really li – I love her, Mami." Raj remembered what Rosalind had said the night before; he was putting all his cards on the table.

His mother was thinking; his father looked worried. His father spoke up: "Well, can we meet her?"

Raj looked up at Rosalind. He had been focused on his parents; he hadn't seen her wide smile until this moment. He smiled back, pleased. At least one of his audiences liked what he had to say.

Rosalind sat next to him on the couch, and gave a little wave. Raj made formal introductions. "Mami, Papi, this is Dr. Rosalind Wald. Rosalind, these are my parents, Dr. and Mrs. Koothrappali."

Rosalind was polite and composed. He'd seen her in situations like this before; he was always impressed by how she handled herself with new people. His parents surprised him; they were uncommonly polite. They only asked a few impertinent questions about her income and family. Her story about her relationship with her own mother was very persuasive, however, and finally Raj's father said to her, "Well, we're sorry to grill you so much. It's just that Raj hasn't introduced us to a girl in a very long time – well, he never has, now that I think about it - and we worry about him. Our marriage was arranged, you know, and it worries us not to see him settled."

Rosalind defended Raj, "You must be patient with him. My own parents had a long and happy relationship, too, and you don't realize what kind of pressure that creates for the kids. You judge every person you date as a potential mate, and eventually, you reach the point where you won't even go on a second date unless you think you'd be willing to marry the person."

Raj's mother perked up at that. "Are you saying that you'd be willing to marry Raj?"

Rosalind fumbled, "Well, I just meant that children whose parents have long, happy marriages like yours and my parents' sometimes have really high expectations for relationships…"

Raj stopped her. "I think you should answer my mother's question."

Rosalind sighed and turned to him, glancing at the laptop out of the corner of her eye, conscious of her audience. "All right, then. Yes. Ever since the day you came to my office and spoke to me. All right?"

Raj was taken aback: "But we'd only known each other…"

"Two weeks," she affirmed, solemnly.

Raj continued, "And I hadn't even spoken to you yet."

"What would be the point in encouraging you to speak to me if I was only going to dump you later?" She was entirely sincere.

Raj swallowed hard, and glanced at the computer screen; his parents were hanging on every word, and his mother was saying, in a hoarse stage whisper, "Get on your knees, Raj. It's more romantic, like the movies."

Almost automatically, Raj began to kneel, but his father interrupted him, "You need a ring, Rajesh." He nodded, flustered, and stood again. He paused for a second, then dashed from the room, leaving Rosalind with the laptop and his parents.

"Where did he go?" his parents demanded.

"He's … in the back yard," she said, looking out the window, then smoothed out her skirt and smiled nervously. Raj's parents were calling to other people in the house, and the screen filled up with faces. Hasty introductions were made, and Rosalind smiled and nodded at each one. Priya was one of them, and she greeted Rosalind, "Hi. I told you so."

"I believed you. You'll have to gloat to him later. I'm not sure that this is quite what he – or I - had in mind." Rosalind glanced at the people surrounding Priya.

Priya smiled at that, "You're going to have to get used to this kind of thing if you're going to be part of the family."

By the time Raj returned, there were half a dozen people watching. He displayed a flowering vine he'd twisted into a ring. "Jasmine. It's beautiful and fragrant and it reminds me of stars. It blooms at night, and grows in California and in India. And it's a vine. Vines are romantic, right?" He smiled nervously, before adding, "And it… it makes me feel like I'm at home."

Out of the corner of his eye, Raj caught his father's approving nod and his mother's rapt smile. He returned to his previous posture, on one knee, and said, "Rosalind, I love you. Will you – here in front of my entire family – will you marry me?"

Rosalind laughed, "Yes, in front of your entire family, Rajesh Raman Koothrapalli, yes, I will." He put the flower on her finger; she leaned in to kiss him and to whisper threats in his ear. He laughed at her threats and laughed at himself.

His family applauded; as he shut the laptop, his mother called out, "Now go upstairs and make me some grandbabies!"

Raj and Rosalind both blushed and kissed again, and Raj said, "Maybe we should do what my mom said. She's been right so far today."


	10. Chapter 10

Ok, maybe one more…

Raj hadn't realized how much grading English professors do. Her 4/4 load shocked him; it seemed like she was always grading. When he had a paper accepted at a conference in San Francisco, he insisted that she come with him. She needed the break, and he wanted to impress her with his presentation. He'd never been the primary presenter for a paper before, and he was excited and nervous about it. Rosalind agreed to go, but she wanted to bring her grading. Raj wanted her to have a weekend without grading; they worked out a deal. She brought her translation project instead; he had to accept that compromise.

The first evening, they were both happy she'd brought her work. Raj had to meet with his research team; they were at three different universities, and this was the first chance they'd had to meet in person. Rosalind spread her papers out on the desk and lost herself in the pleasant puzzle translation provided. They agreed to meet up later at the wine and cheese reception; Rosalind set the alarm on her phone so that she wouldn't forget to stop working.

Raj was late to the reception; when he arrived with his coauthors, Rosalind was already there. He couldn't help but notice her right away; she was wearing a black cocktail dress and the earrings his mother had sent her. They were 24-carat, and they were so long that they almost reached her shoulders. Between the glittering jewelry, the flattering neckline on the dress, and her upswept hair, his eyes were drawn immediately to her beautiful face, and he couldn't help but imagine that every other man at the reception was looking the same way. Indeed, when he saw her, Rosalind was smiling at a man who was handing her a wineglass. Raj held back with his research team, watching Rosalind from across the room.

Rosalind was sitting against the wall; there were three or four men gathered at her table, and they were all laughing and talking. The man who had handed her the wineglass seemed to be dominating the conversation; Rosalind kept looking at him as she talked and gestured. Raj had never seen her drink; she looked over the rim of her glass at the men, sipping as she listened to them. Every now and then, she would glance around the room, or at the empty seat next to her. Then she would say something to the man sitting next to her.

"She's pretty," someone said next to him. "Maybe you should go talk to her."

Raj realized he'd been staring. He turned to the speaker – Kim, the only woman on his research team – and said, "No, I don't think I will." He heard Rosalind's laugh behind him. "How about a drink?"

The next time Raj turned around, Rosalind's table was empty; he ordered more drinks for himself and Kim, who was becoming increasingly friendly. They carried their last round up to her room; they were both giggly and grabby, and they fell on each other on the couch in her room. Kim was trying to pull off his sweater vest when his cellphone beeped. "I have to get that," he said, worried.

"What, someone checking up on you?" Kim teased. Raj looked at the phone and sighed. It wasn't Rosalind. "Not exactly."

It was Howard:

_How's the conference? Good times with Rosalind?_

She wasn't checking up on him. She was probably busy with wineglass man. Still, Raj ran his hands though his hair and sighed. "So, Kim, remember that pretty girl I was looking at earlier? Any chance you know the man she was talking to?"

Kim nodded. "Sure, that's Dr. Ferrera from Manoa."

"The guy who's making the keynote speech?" Raj had been looking forward to hearing the speech, and had hoped to meet the speaker.

Kim nodded. "Umm-hmm. He's pretty good. I did some work at Manoa last summer."

"He seems awfully flirty." Raj was holding a grudge.

"Friendly, maybe, but he never goes past a glass of wine. And believe me, I tried. Some men are like that." Kim was getting bored.

"Like what?"

"Faithful. He's so very very married. But I'm not, and you're not, so why are we talking so much?" Kim reached for Raj, who didn't respond.

"I… I have to go. She trusted me, and I didn't trust her." Raj stood up and straightened his shirt and vest.

"Why? What's wrong? I thought we were having fun," Kim was disappointed.

Raj furrowed his brow. "I … shouldn't be here. I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I... Oh, what have I done?"

Kim was befuddled, "OK. I don't know what you've done, and I'm clearly missing something here. I guess I'll see you in the morning at the presentation, then?"

Raj was already out the door, smoothing down his hair and muttering to himself. When he made it back to the room he shared with Rosalind, he found the closet door ajar, and his presentation suit hanging, neatly pressed. The bed was still made. Rosalind was curled up in the chair by the window, asleep; his mother's earrings were on the side table. Raj leaned against the door and sighed, then he went to the closet and pulled out the spare blanket and covered her with it. She grabbed at the blanket in her sleep. He sighed again, and crouched down beside her.

"Rosalind." He reached out to touch her. "Rosalind?"

She sat up and looked around the room, confused until she saw him. "Raj? Are you OK? What happened to you? I waited. I met that guy from Manoa you wanted to talk to, and I tried to keep him chatting until you came, but you never came." She was still sleepy. "What time is it, anyway?"

"It's late, Rosalind. Come to bed." Raj stood up and held out his hand to her. She took his hand, stood, and squinted at her watch. "Did I fall asleep waiting for you? Where have you been?"

"I was… I was with some of the members of my research team." It wasn't exactly a lie.

"Oh. Are you all ready for your presentation? I steamed your suit." Rosalind smiled a sleepy little smile.

"Yes, I'm ready. You'd better…" Raj gestured toward the bathroom. "Ladies first."

Rosalind came out in her pajamas. "One glass of wine and I'm so sleepy. G'night, Raj, my love." She rolled into bed, leaving him sitting on the edge, thinking.

The next morning was awkward. Rosalind was full of encouragement, excited to see his presentation. She straightened his collar and tightened his tie. "You'll be great. Will I get to meet your research team?" She asked. He was reluctant, imagining over and over the scene when he introduced Rosalind to Kim. He couldn't figure out how that would end well.

Still, he didn't say anything. How could he? His session was at 10:00; after breakfast, they found the meeting room. Rosalind found a seat near the back, and Raj joined the other panelists. He was fumbling with the connection between his laptop and the projector when Kim arrived, so he didn't see her approaching Rosalind until it was too late to say anything.

"You're here with Dr. Koothrapalli, aren't you?" Kim asked.

Rosalind smiled and stood up. "Are you part of his research team?" The two women shook hands, and Raj cowered behind the podium.

"I'm looking forward to the presentation," Rosalind added.

Kim raised an eyebrow. "Oh, are you an astrophysicist, too?" Raj flinched.

"No, just a lowly English professor. But I enjoy hearing people speak about their specialties, no matter what they are."

"Really. Why? I would think you would find it incredibly boring to listen to long lectures you didn't understand."

Rosalind was undeterred. "Well, I may or may not be able to follow every detail, but that's immaterial. When Raj talked about his research, he just lights up all over. Love does that to a person."

"Love, you say?" Kim was arch. Raj was confused; he peered over the podium, afraid to interfere.

"Sure. He loves astrophysics. Don't you? I know I can go on for entirely too long about Machado de Assis. Isn't that part of why we became academics?" Rosalind said this as though it were the most reasonable thing in the world, but Kim was dismissive.

"Love? Nobody becomes a scientist out of love."

"Then why do it?"

"Well, because it's interesting, and because I'm good at it, and because it makes me happy…. dear god, I became a scientist out of love, you're right. Damnit."

Raj decided that this was the time to appear. "I see that you two have met. Rosalind, this is Dr. Kim Lowery, from the University of Colorado, Ft. Collins. Dr. Lowery, this is Dr. Rosalind Wald, of the English department at Pasadena City College, and my fiancée."

"Your what?" Raj had said it; he had to deal with the outcome.

"Rosalind is my fiancée."

"Well, then… congratulations to you both, I guess. I think I'll go over… here." Kim went to join the rest of the research team at the head table.

"She's a little odd," Rosalind whispered to Raj.

"Oh, you know. Scientists are like that." Raj didn't want to explain.

Rosalind squeezed his hand for luck, and he returned to the podium. The presentation went well; he kept his eyes on Rosalind and her encouraging smile the whole time. Dr. Ferrera slipped in at the last minute and sat beside her; she smiled at him, whispering and pointing at Raj. During the question and answer period, Dr. Ferrera asked several helpful questions, the kind of questions that made a presenter look good in front of the audience, and Raj came up to shake his hand afterwards.

"I'm sorry I missed you last night. Rosalind here was telling me about your work, and I was hoping we could talk." Dr. Ferrera was friendly.

Rosalind smiled shyly. "I'm sure I botched it entirely."

Dr. Ferrera shook his head. "No, no. You told it without numbers, but you explained the basic ideas pretty well." He turned to Raj. "She's smart. Keep this one. Bring her with you when you come out to Manoa. I think we can get you some time on the telescope next summer."

Rosalind ducked her head, shyly, and Raj took her hand.

"Well, I've got to get ready for my talk," Dr. Ferrera said. "Maybe we can get together later?"

Raj and Rosalind nodded. As Dr. Ferrera walked away, Rosalind turned to Raj and said, "I suppose you need to spend more time with your research group?" She glanced over his shoulder at Kim: Raj half-turned to glance at his colleagues, who were still gathered at the front of the room. "Nah. Let me just grab my computer, and we can go." Rosalind waited by the door, and he grabbed her elbow and steered her out of the conference room. "We need to talk."

Rosalind looked alarmed. "Talk?"

They found some chairs in a corner, and sat down. Raj pulled his chair closer to hers and leaned in to tell her what had happened the evening before, how he'd been jealous of her with Dr. Ferrara, how he'd gone to Kim's room, how he'd been racked with guilt ever since. Rosalind was surprised and confused and disappointed and a little relieved; she'd suspected, after all. Eventually, Rosalind sighed. "You'd better go to the luncheon. You don't want to miss the keynote. I'll grab a sandwich and go upstairs with Machado."

"But, Rosalind…" Raj was worried. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything.

"It's OK, Raj. Go to your meeting. I'll be waiting for you when you're done." Rosalind patted his knee.

The lunch itself was dull, but Dr. Ferrara's keynote speech was actually interesting, and Raj was caught up in the conversation around the table afterwards. Eventually, reluctantly, he made his way back to the room, where he found Rosalind sitting at the desk; books and papers were spread around, and her head was in her arms. She'd fallen asleep waiting for him, again; he wondered how late she'd stayed up the night before. He crossed the room to her and knelt down beside her, gently rubbing her back. "Rosalind?"

"Raj? Oh. I'm sorry. I must have…"

"It's OK, Rosalind."

She looked down at him, kneeling next to her. "Stand up, at least." He took her hands as he did, and she stood, too. She leaned against him. "Did you really think I would…?"

Raj sighed. "I saw you, and you were so… luminous… and I thought any man would want you." She smiled sadly at that. "And you were smiling and laughing and talking."

"Raj, that's what people do. They smile and laugh and talk."

"Yes, but when you do it, it's so… desirable."

"So desirable that, instead of talking to me, you go to some other woman's room with her?"

Raj sighed. "I thought that you and Dr. Ferrera… So I figured, all right then, two can play this game."

"Raj? I'm not playing any game here. You find me desirable, you tell me about it. Usually that turns out pretty well."

Raj nodded. He was still disappointed with himself. Rosalind kissed him gently. "I've got an errand to run. You go back to your conference. I'll see you this evening."

"You'll be here?" Raj was still worried that he'd undone everything.

"I'll be here." Rosalind promised.

After a long day of conference meetings, Raj returned to the room. He was surprised when Rosalind greeted him. She was wearing a miniskirt and strappy high heels, and was showing rather more cleavage than usual. Her hair was down and teased out; Raj's jaw dropped. "C'mon." Rosalind said. "I'm taking you out."

"Out?" Raj couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing.

"Call it an experiment. I want to see what happens when you drink."

"Is this some kind of test?" Raj was suspicious.

Rosalind repeated herself, "Call it an experiment."

Raj could see that he had no choice. "Alright, lead on."

She took him to a noisy bar, full of young people in tight clothes. She inspected the place through the front window. "Oh, yeah. Annoying as hell. This'll do." She smiled at Raj and tilted her head toward the door. "C'mon."

Rosalind led him to the bar, where she got the bartender's attention. "Caparinha for me, and…" she glanced at Raj, who spoke for himself, "Beer's fine. Something dark." Rosalind slid some money across the bar as the bartender slid the drinks toward them.

Raj turned to Rosalind. "So, what's your plan?"

Rosalind held up her glass for a toast, then sipped her drink and grimaced. "Can't get any decent cachasa up here. OK, Raj. Part of your problem last night was unfounded jealousy. You've only ever had one reason to speak to a woman, and you can't imagine a woman and a man having a conversation that doesn't lead to that. You're going to have to take my word for it that it is entirely possible for a man and a woman to have a conversation that doesn't lead to sex. But another part was alcohol. I was thinking, and I realized that we've never had a drink together." Raj nodded. "More to the point, I've never seen what you're like when you drink. I want to find out."

Raj gestured with his bottle. "I only ever drink in order to talk to women. I don't have to do that anymore, thanks to you."

"And yet, last night." Rosalind gestured with her glass.

Raj nodded. He didn't entirely understand it himself. "I didn't know you drank either."

"I don't, much. I won't drink alone, and I won't drink if I'm the only person doing so, and I don't drink much when I do. You know me, cautious in the extreme." Rosalind nodded.

Raj nodded too, and took another pull from his bottle. "So what are you going to do here?"

"I'm going to have a few drinks; you're going to have a few drinks. We're going to see what happens."

What happened was that Rosalind, flipping her hair and blushing from the drink, attracted a lot of attention. She laughed at a stockbroker who wanted to buy her a drink. She started an argument with a Giants fan, and that worried Raj; he knew how she felt about the Giants. Raj watched, but lost track of her when a flock of women approached him, suggesting that he buy them drinks. He tried talking with a cheerful blonde, whose vocabulary was too small to be impressed by anything he said. After a few moments, Raj found the whole thing boring, and it was at that moment that Rosalind approached him. She was flirty and loud, and grabbed Raj by the arm and pulled him out to the dance floor. Raj was surprised, but he went along, relieved to be rescued from the blonde, and relieved to have Rosalind back. The dance floor was crowded, and they had to dance close. "Well?" Rosalind asked. Raj was speechless. He wanted to flirt back. He wanted to tell her that the blonde had been dull and couldn't carry on a conversation. He wanted to tell her that she was incredibly sexy and he wanted to go home with her, but his tongue was tied. He couldn't say a thing. Alcohol usually made him more chatty, but with Rosalind, he couldn't get a word out. Rosalind kissed him, and it wasn't her usual sweet kiss; it was more aggressive and, well, more naughty than usual. Raj held on and kissed her back; she raised her eyebrows at him, and he nodded back. She grabbed his hand, and they headed out the door.

Hours later, in the hotel room, after the alcohol began to wear off, he regained the ability to speak. "What's going on, Rosalind? Usually, I drink in order to talk to women. Tonight, I could talk to every woman but you. And you…" He gestured vaguely. "I'm not complaining, but … wow."

Rosalind nodded. "Usually, I like my inhibitions. But this wasn't all bad. One drink makes me mellow, two make me argumentative. Now I know what happens after three drinks." She was walking around the room, picking up the clothes and pillows and blankets they had flung in all directions. "So, what have we learned?"

"That you should drink more than I should." Raj grinned. He liked the sexy, aggressive Rosalind.

Rosalind shook her head, then nodded a little. "Maybe. I don't drink with men I don't trust."

Raj nodded at that. "OK. If I'm jealous, I talk to you. Then, I buy you a drink."

Rosalind laughed, then dropped the pile of clothes in a heap on the floor and crawled across the bed toward him.


End file.
